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8 May 2024
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Despite advances in investing technology, the most fundamental step - the application process - often frustrates investors. Will 'tokenisation' be the solution to identify fraud, and what's the impact of Optus?
Complex products beyond the purview of ASIC are being offered to retail investors based on tax and return advantages beyond the ability of investors to assess, making them manifestly unsuitable.
Despite advances in technology in many parts of asset management, that most fundamental step - the application process - often bewilders investors. Time for the industry to step up and coordinate a solution.
The increasing complexity of super would leave the fathers of Australia’s system wondering what has happened to their brainchild. Advisers and clients are struggling with the complexity before the looming deadlines.
The driverless car is experiencing something that financial markets have always struggled with: the vagaries of human behaviour. Can Google deliver insights to help finance theory, or can we expect more crashes?
Australia has a world-class superannuation system, but it is also the most complex. From insurances to estate provisions to the many different forms of contributions and withdrawals, we should try to 'keep it simple'.
Extracts from Peter Costello's talk to super fund executives, where he criticises their self-interest and poor handling of the super policy debate. And from a prior speech, he backs Nick Sherry's call for simplicity.
Life has radically shifted with my brain cancer, and I don’t know if it will ever be the same again. After decades of writing and a dozen years with Firstlinks, I still want to contribute, but exactly how and when I do that is unclear.
How useful are the retirement savings and spending targets put out by various groups such as ASFA? Not very, and it's reducing the ability of ordinary retirees to fully understand their retirement income options.
Australia will have 3.7 million more people in a decade's time, though the growth won't be evenly distributed. Over 85s will see the fastest growth, while the number of younger people will barely rise.
The $3 million super tax will capture retired, and soon to retire, public servants and politicians who are members of defined benefit superannuation schemes. Lobbying efforts for exemptions to the tax are intensifying.
Recently, I compiled a list of ASX stocks that you could buy and hold forever. Here’s a follow-up list of US stocks that you could own indefinitely, including well-known names like Microsoft, as well as lesser-known gems.
Debates about retirement tend to focus on the financial aspects: income, tax, estates, wills, and the like. Less attention is paid to the psychological challenges of retirement, which can often be more demanding.